Secretary of State of Kansas
Secretary of State of Kansas is a constitutional officer in the state. The current secretary is Scott Schwab, sworn in on January 14, 2019.
The first secretary was John Winter Robinson, a physician from Litchfield, Maine, who settled in Manhattan, Kansas in 1857. He was elected in December 1859 before Kansas became a state and was sworn in after Kansas joined the Union in February 1861. Robinson was impeached on February 26, 1862, along with Governor Charles L. Robinson and State Auditor George S. Hillyer, over a bond scandal. He was convicted by the Kansas Senate on June 12, 1862, and removed from office, becoming the first state executive official in U.S. history to be impeached and removed. Hillyer was removed on June 16, but Governor Robinson was acquitted. Sanders R. Shepard became secretary on July 28, 1862.
In 2015, Secretary Kris Kobach was granted prosecutorial power in voter fraud cases. As the chief elections officer, the secretary runs elections and handles voter registration, and also receives campaign finance reports and registers lobbyists. Regulation of lobbying and campaign finance is shared with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission. The secretary is the first and only secretary of state to hold prosecutorial power in voter fraud cases.
The office runs the Business Filing Center, which registers business entities, trademarks, trade names, and liens under the Uniform Commercial Code. It regulates many businesses, including sports agents, trade unions, cemeteries, and funeral homes. The Secretary’s Publications Section publishes state legal and informational documents, such as session laws, regulations, and the Kansas Register.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:46 (CET).